Monica

Monica is a former colleague of Steve and an employee of the Fulbright Commission whose attempt to help him and Kristín exposes how tightly the embassy is controlled and how dangerous their search has become. At a meeting in a Reykjavík pub, she reports armed special forces inside the embassy and surveillance of calls connected to it; the meeting then turns into an ambush, with Monica leaving under pressure as Ripley and Bateman move against her companions.

Identity and Background

Monica is described as a tall, slim woman in her early forties, with dark hair and a belted beige overcoat. The description belongs to her entrance at the pub: Steve spots her hurrying inside, and the pair wait briefly before following her. Her careful arrival and choice of a seat at the back, in a corner, place the meeting in the atmosphere of watchfulness that soon becomes explicit.

Before taking her job with the Fulbright Commission, Monica lived on the base and worked with Steve. Their shared work gives him a personal connection through which he can approach her, but the evidence does not specify what their duties were or how long they worked together. In the present crisis, that former association is more than background: Steve expects Monica to be a possible source of information, while she appears to understand that contact with him may put her at risk.

The Meeting with Kristín and Steve

Kristín asks Steve when they will meet his friend Monica, naming her as someone whose help may matter. They arrange to meet later, and by ten past four the two are waiting in a car near the pub, watching people come and go. The place is busy enough to offer cover: fishermen crowd the bar, while other customers occupy tables in the wood-panelled room. Monica sits at the back, and Kristín and Steve join her there.

Monica immediately asks what has happened and what is going on. Her words come tumbling out, and beads of sweat show on her upper lip. As Steve and Kristín describe the events of the previous evening and night, she listens tensely, rubbing her hands together and repeatedly looking over Steve's shoulder. Her agitation is visible before she explains what she has learned; the distracted glances also make the meeting feel exposed, even before the danger becomes unmistakable.

What Monica Reveals

Monica says that no one will speak openly at the embassy. It is in a state of siege, she reports, and she has never seen guns there before; now everyone is armed. She believes the armed personnel are special forces. Most of the embassy staff have been forced to take leave, and when she asked what was happening, she was directed to an officer who said the situation would be resolved in a few days and normal life would resume. The officer was polite, but Monica came away with the impression that he might shoot her if given half a chance.

That promised delay alarms Kristín: in a few days, the people at the glacier may already have left Iceland. Monica's account therefore gives the pair more than a picture of unusual security. It suggests that the embassy's official reassurance cannot be treated as a reason to wait, while the displacement of staff and presence of armed personnel make ordinary channels of inquiry unreliable.

Monica also warns them that calls both to and from the embassy are known to those monitoring it. Steve realizes that this means their communication with her may have exposed both of them. He accuses her of selling them out and asks whether the meeting is a trap. Monica answers by saying that her boys were threatened. The story does not establish exactly what she was told to do, or what information she may have passed on; it does make clear that she is acting under coercion, not speaking from a position of safety.

The Ambush and Monica's Departure

As Steve reacts to the warning, he sees Ripley entering the pub in a padded white ski-suit and walking toward their corner. Kristín then spots Bateman coming down the stairs, dressed similarly. The two men no longer resemble religious salesmen; their clothes could make them look like tourists. Kristín recognizes that she and Steve are boxed into the back corner and can see no escape route.

When Kristín asks what is in the plane on the glacier, Bateman responds by dismissing the question and telling them, in effect, to let the men proceed with their work. He stands aside for Monica. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she hurries across the pub and out into the winter dusk without looking left or right. Her departure is the last action attributed to her in the scene. The narration does not say where she goes next or whether she is free to leave; it records only that she exits while Ripley and Bateman remain to seize Kristín and Steve.

Narrative Role

Monica's brief appearance connects Steve's earlier life on the base to the present crisis at the embassy. Through her, the threat becomes institutional as well as physical: armed men have displaced embassy staff, an officer offers a timetable that does not serve Kristín and Steve, and calls are being tracked. Yet the pub meeting turns this information into immediate danger. The ordinary setting, with fishermen laughing at the bar and customers nearby, does not protect the group from a coordinated approach.

Monica is neither presented as a secure ally nor established as a willing betrayer. Her information helps Kristín and Steve understand the surveillance around them, while Steve's alarm and the threat to her boys make the cost of her involvement plain. Her lowered gaze and quick exit leave the question of her agency unresolved: she gets away from the table, but the scene gives no account of what choices remain to her. That uncertainty sharpens the contrast between the men who control the room and the people whose movements they can compel.